The evolution of maximum body size of terrestrial mammals

The extinction of dinosaurs at the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary was the seminal event that opened the door for the subsequent diversification of terrestrial mammals. Our compilation of maximum body size at the ordinal level by sub-epoch shows a near-exponential increase after the K/Pg. On ea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 330; no. 6008; p. 1216
Main Authors: Smith, Felisa A, Boyer, Alison G, Brown, James H, Costa, Daniel P, Dayan, Tamar, Ernest, S K Morgan, Evans, Alistair R, Fortelius, Mikael, Gittleman, John L, Hamilton, Marcus J, Harding, Larisa E, Lintulaakso, Kari, Lyons, S Kathleen, McCain, Christy, Okie, Jordan G, Saarinen, Juha J, Sibly, Richard M, Stephens, Patrick R, Theodor, Jessica, Uhen, Mark D
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 26.11.2010
Subjects:
Animals
Atmosphere
Biological Evolution
Body Size
Ecosystem
Environment
Extinction, Biological
Fossils
Geography
Mammals - anatomy & histology
Mammals - classification
Mammals - growth & development
Models, Biological
Oxygen
Phylogeny
Temperature
ISSN:1095-9203, 1095-9203
Online Access:Get more information
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Summary:The extinction of dinosaurs at the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary was the seminal event that opened the door for the subsequent diversification of terrestrial mammals. Our compilation of maximum body size at the ordinal level by sub-epoch shows a near-exponential increase after the K/Pg. On each continent, the maximum size of mammals leveled off after 40 million years ago and thereafter remained approximately constant. There was remarkable congruence in the rate, trajectory, and upper limit across continents, orders, and trophic guilds, despite differences in geological and climatic history, turnover of lineages, and ecological variation. Our analysis suggests that although the primary driver for the evolution of giant mammals was diversification to fill ecological niches, environmental temperature and land area may have ultimately constrained the maximum size achieved.
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ISSN:1095-9203
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1194830